Stunning Recovery for First Child to Get Stem Cell Trachea

[OmahaBlueDog]

Source: ABC

The first child in history to receive a trachea fashioned by his own stem cells has shown remarkable progress since the initial transplant two years ago, marking a new record for the novel procedure.

Ciaran Finn-Lynch, the now 13-year-old boy from the UK who the world's first child to receive the stem cell trachea transplant, is breathing normally and no longer needs anti-rejection medication, researchers reported in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Lancet.

The organ itself is strong, has not shown signs of rejection, and has even grown 11 centimeters since it had been transplanted, according to the researchers.

Ciaran was born with a rare condition known as Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis, marked by a small windpipe that does not grow and can restrict breathing. He underwent the stem cell transplant in March 2010 after a standard trachea transplant did not work.



Read more: http://gma.yahoo.com/stunning-recovery-first-child-stem-cell-trachea-024532746--abc-news-wellness.html

[tawadi]

1. k&r

[lunatica]

2. This is actually a Big Fucking Deal!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. ...

Last edited Thu Jul 26, 2012, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

On edit: Auntie Bush, I loved your sentiment, but hated your wording. I'm sorry that you didn't see my request to please come up with a different anti-Republican epithet. I did not alert your post, but I knew someone else would, eventually.

[TouchOfGray]

7. This was not done with the embryonic stem cells that they oppose

"The first child in history to receive a trachea fashioned by his own stem cells"

I'm sure you understand the difference and merely misread the article.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. What you say is true, but the results beg the question....

..of what potential embryonic stem cells truly hold.

[Control-Z]

18. Are you

anti-choice? Do you have a problem with stem cell research? Just asking.

[dipsydoodle]

5. Doncha just love

good news like this.

[OmahaBlueDog]

6. I do. It gives me hope.

This could be the first step towards much bigger things -- not that a trachea isn't huge.

[shanti]

9. wonderful news! k&r

[Historic NY]

10. Amazing hopefull news...

[mckara]

11. I Need to Reconnect My Spinal Cord

I hope it will be coming soon!

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. We all hope for that

For you and for many others.

[Arugula Latte]

13. Chalk up another win for science!

Awesome!

I hope this kind of thing can be replicated in people who damaged colons and such.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. Organs, bones, nerve cells, brain cells

The possibilities are endless

[Zoeisright]

15. Just THINK of where medicine might be if religious nuts

and repukes hadn't held back science with their superstitions. Stem cell research is just one of those advances.

[AtomicKitten]

16. Hooray for stem cells!

[young_at_heart]

17. Think how many people were denied this because of Bush

His phony 'religious reasons' were an insult to humanity!

[Igel]

19. None.

There are human embryonic stem cells. HESCs. Under Clinton HESC research was politically messy because every grant was a fight. *'s NIH set aside funds dedicated to HESC research because * declared some stem-cell lines permissible. He took a lot of heat for that, but the fight over those stem-cell lines was won and not revisited.

However, he disallowed federal funding for new stem-cell lines. So while he actually expanded funding from what it was, he restricted it from being what many wanted to be. Private funding, state funding were fine and skyrocketed (we focused on what made us angry; it's human to like being pissed at people you don't like). Research into HESCs increased. Not nearly as much as HESC advocates wanted. There were a lot of risks with HESCs, and it's still pretty much true that they still haven't overcome the risks. HESC-derived tissue has this nasty habit of becoming quickly cancerous.

A lot of "HESC" research involves, paradoxically, fake HESCs. You take a cell from an adult (or immatuer) organism and jigger it to be like an HESC. Few fundies have a problem with this. Sort of "no human embryos were injured in the manufacture of this embryonic stem cell."

There are other kinds of human stem cells. Under * dedicated funding for research involving those soared. Most fundies liked that kind of research. No embryos are destroyed and lives might be saved. There were a few fundies against this research, but hardly any at all. I tend to think as many progressives were against it because it wasn't the kind of research they wanted. Fundies like it and not HESC research, so HESC research must be better. Nah. Just diferent. Those who did HESC and not other stem-cell research said it was better, but they usually shut up when they got grants. Only the non-funded really screamed. They're like Audrey Jr. from the Little Shop of Horrors: Feed me!

This research used the boy's own stem cells. This didn't involve the stems cell research that 95% of all fundies opposed. Very few fundies were offended in the funding of this research. Most would have applauded it.